Experts: More people should know CPR

LEE COUNTY: There are still questions about the way Michael Jackson was administered CPR before he died. Now experts want to make sure everyone knows what to do to keep someone alive in a medical emergency.

Last year, there were more than 900 cardiac arrests reported in Lee County alone. That's why Diane Holm, of Lee County Public Safety, is on a mission to make every community in Lee County "heart-ready."

She says that would mean there is a group of people who would be trained in CPR and the use of a defibrillator.

"You can do so much to sustain life until the medics arrive and then can actually save a life," said Holm.

According to the American Heart Association, about 80 percent of cardiac arrests occur in private residential settings. And effective bystander CPR that is provided immediately after cardiac arrest can double a victim's chance of survival.

"CPR is the ground zero to medicine. We at EMS can't do our job until compressions are done," said Adrian Santiago of Lee County EMS.

Now that we're getting into the second half of August, it's the the time of year when we really start to monitor the far eastern Atlantic for budding tropical waves that could potentially develop into tropical storms or hurricanes.